Celestia’s office was actually quite small, maybe the size of her room? Whether that was due to funding, preference, or it used to be some other room, she didn’t know. But, as Pinkamena walked into the office and noticed how small it was, she realized something else, this was her first time in the office. She hadn’t thought about it until now, but she had rarely been in trouble. Not that she had never done anything questionable, she certainly had. It’s more she just never got caught doing anything that she would get in trouble for, that wasn’t counting her rebellious phase or the amount of ‘pranks’ she used to pull, that was something else entirely.

Pinkamena looked at Celestia’s back as she sat in the chair on the other side of the desk in her chair, looking out the window at something. She flinched when Pinkamena came in and shut the door, she had not been expecting anyone. She began to turn the chair around.

“Can I help yo-”

Celestia began to say, curious who would be coming in at this time. When she saw who it was, she almost didn’t recognize who it was. The figure before her was in clothing she didn’t usually see, except for when Luna was younger, but that’s not a time Celestia likes to think about. But when she saw that pink hair, despite it not being in its usual puffy form. And the baby blue eyes, though the light in them was absent. There was only one person that it could be, Celestia jumped out of her chair, looking at Pinkamena with surprise and worry.

“Pinkie! I’m so glad you’re okay! Your friends are going to-”

“Sit down, Celestia. We have things we need to discuss.”

Pinkamena said as she sat down in a chair in front of the desk, her voice cold and direct. Celestia was shocked, this wasn’t a tone she had ever heard from the party planner before. What happened to her?

“What do you mean? We need to notify the police! Your friends will be relieved when-”

“Sit. Down. Now.”

She said again, her voice more demanding this time, almost threatening. Celestia, confused and concerned, slowly sat in the chair. Pinkamena nonchalantly pulled out the pack of cigarettes she had gotten earlier, she hadn’t had the chance to smoke them yet, she might as well now. She opened the pack and put one in her mouth, pulling out a light as she did so, completely ignoring the no smoking sign on Celesta’s desk. Celestia looked at her with a disgusted and disapproving look, not imagining Pinkie out of all of them would pick up such an unhealthy habit!

“Put that out right now! You can’t smoke in-”

Pinkamena silenced her with a look, a threatening one, one Celestia wasn’t used to seeing. Celestia stayed silent, she wasn’t sure what Pinkamena could do to her, or what had happened to her the past three months, but she had to stay calm about this if she wanted to help her. Pinkamena then lit the cigarette, putting the lighter back in her pocket and inhaling deeply. She then pulled the cigarette out and held it in her fingers, holding it over a trashcan near the desk. She then heavily exhaled, at least having the decency to not exhale in Celestia’s face. She blew the smoke to her left, her body relaxing, but her face was the same, except for a slight frown as she looked at the cigarette, she seemed disappointed.

“That...was not at all what I was expecting, I was hoping for more of a release, I guess smoking really is overrated. Anyway, as I was saying.”

Pinkamena looked at Celestia, who was looking at her with the same face of disgust and disapprovement, but this time with worry.

“The police have already been notified of my state of being, in as much detail as necessary, but more than you’ll be getting. As for my friends, walking through the hallway right after first period while everyone is getting to their classes, assures they will be notified. Now, that leaves the problem of my enrollment.”

Pinkamena then pulled out a small folder from her pocket, sliding it across the desk towards Celestia. She looked at it both fearfully and curiously, hesitant in opening it. But she did, she picked open the folder and opened it. And as soon as she did, her eyes widened in shock and fear, looking up at Pinkamena and back at the folders, questioning how and why she has this.

“T-this is-”

“About a decade or so ago, a gas station was robbed, about two hundred and fourteen dollars were stolen. Nobody was killed, but the guy who was manning the register was shot, though it wasn’t fatal, I can’t imagine it was pleasant. He lived, but the culprit was never caught. Now, this place did have a camera, but it’s a very old camera. So it wasn’t too hard to claim that it wasn’t recording. But, Celestia, let’s just say you have a few friends with influence. And when they saw who the culprit was,”

Pinkamena took another puff of her cigarette, watching Celestia curiously. Celestia laid the folder on the desk in front of her, as if she was done looking at it. She closed her eyes and laid her hands gently on the desk, she inhaled and exhaled slowly, in an effort to calm herself. She then slowly opened her eyes, looking at the picture on the table worriedly. The picture on top was one of three, but the other two couldn’t be seen. The picture on top was in black and white, and revealed the inside of a gas station. Food and drinks were on shelves and a man stood behind a cash register. But there were two people in the picture, the man behind the cash register, and a hooded figure right under the camera. Whoever this person was, they must have either not known it was there, or figured it didn’t work. They were wearing a large hoodie that covered a good portion of their body, except for their face.

Normally, a person probably wouldn’t be able to see their face. But from where they were standing from the camera, it could be seen clearly. The person in the hoodie was Luna.

“They decided it would be better if people didn’t know who did the robbery, for both you and her.”

Pinkamena exhaled again, the smoke going to her left. Celestia looked up at Pinkamena, but this time there was a different look in her eyes, anger. She released a loud sigh, whatever had happened to Pinkie had changed her, for the worse, it would seem. And from the way she was talking, she had gotten in with the wrong crowd.

“Luna had been going through a rebellious phase, but hers was more dangerous than most. She had gotten mixed up with the wrong people, and she owed them money. If she hadn’t gotten them the money she owed them, the results would've been...unpleasant. Afraid for herself and me, she got desperate and robbed a gas station. She didn’t hurt anyone, seriously, and going to the police wasn’t an option. So I helped her hide, at least until the heat passed. She paid them what she owed and they left us alone, and the police never had a reason to suspect us. I never imagined anyone would be helping us though, I suppose it would be too much to ask who?”

Celestia’s tone was hesitant and cautious, but calm. Pinkamena only looked back with a grin on her face, taking another puff of her cigarette.

“Yep, sorry.”

Pinkamena said nonchalantly, being blunt made this easier. Celestia kept her gaze strong, she didn’t look away.

“I see. Well, I take it you want something? You wouldn’t be showing me this otherwise. Blackmail, while never something this dangerous, isn’t something I’m unfamiliar with.”

Pinkamena raised her eyebrow slightly, perhaps she had underestimated Celestia.

“You’re right, I do want something. Turning this in as evidence would get charges against Luna, and maybe you, depending on whether or not you feign ignorance. What I want is simple, I want to enroll in the school, finish my year. I was a year ahead, so this should be my senior year. I just want to be treated like a normal student, simple scheduling and tested. And don’t give me special treatment, don’t be afraid to give me detention or suspend me if I get in trouble, and no questions, they annoy me.”

Pinkamena took one more puff of her cigarette and threw it in the trash can, getting up out of the chair and walking towards the door. Celestia looked up at her surprisingly, also slightly worried about the fire hazard of throwing a cigarette in a trash bin full of paper,but that wasn’t an immediate problem.

“That’s it? You just want to come back to school? That’s...actually really normal. I’m sure what I expected, but not that.”

Pinkamena looked at her as she stood in front of the door, looking down at Celestia.

“I’ve never had any problems with you, there’s nothing else I really want. After what happened, I just want to graduate and move on with my life. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Pinkamena turned around and opened the door, the hallway on the other side was completely empty, seems all the students went to there classes.

“Pinkie,”

Pinkamena stopped, not bothering to turn around.

“Are you ok?”

Pinkamena turned her head to Celestia, she was looking up at her. Not with worry or fear, but with concern.

“No.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The rest of the day had been pretty peaceful, of course, teachers and other students were very hesitant and cautious around her, which is what she wanted. She kept them away and avoided them as much as possible. She did her classwork within minutes since it was so easy for her, and the rest of the class was very boring. She tried sleeping, but that was proving to be...difficult. Whether it was because of The Whispers, or if what happened the last three months has given her problems sleeping, both were likely.

Well, the day had been peaceful, until lunch, that is. She wasn’t feeling particularly hungry, so she decided to stay in the courtyard until lunch passed. That was when her old friends confronted her, none of them were happy. But, after some shouting from them, she had managed to escape them. But, there was one problem, there were two of them missing.

She didn’t really care about the well being of any of them, it was more out of curiosity, really. She figured Twilight had isolated herself somewhere so she could focus on looking for her, it was likely she hadn’t even received the news yet. But Rainbow Dash? Nowhere to be seen. She had expected her to be one of the first to confront her, but she didn’t. When she wasn’t even there with the others, she was actually surprised. But, after what happened with them, it was too late to ask them.

Having nothing better to do until she had to meet with Applejack, she decided she was going to investigate after school. She really didn’t feel like dealing with people, so she didn’t ask anyone what happened, or anything. After what happened in the courtyard, she started avoiding people, more than she already was. Which wasn’t very hard, because after what happened in the courtyard, they were also avoiding her. The rest of the day just kind of continued like that, her avoiding everyone else, completing her classwork faster than anyone else, and was left extremely bored, was this how the rest of the year was going to be?

There was one problem though, she was being watched. Well, that was obvious. Everyone in the school was watching her, either out of curiosity, or fear. Not just that, but it seems some of her classes were shared with Sunset and the others. Not all of them at once, that would have been borderline intolerable. She had one class with just Sunset, a class with Rainbow Dash and Applejack, one with Fluttershy and Rarity, and one with just Twilight. She knew she had one with Rainbow Dash because of the teacher calling off attendance, but, of course, Rainbow Dash wasn’t there. Twilight was the same, the teacher called her name, but she wasn’t there. If she had to guess, Twilight had spent the majority of her time trying to find her, she had been missing days at school to do so. She probably told Sunset and the rest bring her school work, and she still had to come in for a test. But she could be wrong, she had no idea what she’s missed around here the last three months.

But that isn’t who she was being watched by, not by other students, not by Sunset and her friends, not even by Celestia or Luna. She probably wouldn’t have been able to notice it before, but her senses were increased now. Her hearing was better, a lot better. If close enough, she could tell each individual heartbeat of everyone around her, she could probably tell who someone was and their current state of being from hearing their heartbeat alone. She could hear Sunset’s anger and other mixed emotions, the fear and uncertainty of the students and teachers, she didn’t even want to begin on the emotions of the other four.

There was another heartbeat, this one was right outside the school building, and that’s where it stayed. Whenever she moved, it moved. It always stayed too far away for her to see, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t see her. She could tell this heart from the others because of how calm it was, unlike the other people around her, there was no other emotions, no inner turmoil. It actually impressed her how calm this person was, their heartbeat was very slow, how they were able to be so relaxed was something she’d actually like to know. It was obvious this person was following her, either that, or this was just one huge coincidence. After everything that’s happened in Pinkamena’s life, she didn’t believe in coincidences anymore.

After school was over, which was dreadfully long, she decided to confront this mysteriously calm person. It seemed after school was over, the person watching her stopped following her, they had stopped moving. Pinkamena went straight to where the heartbeat was, she had no idea who it was or how long they would be there, it could be The Silent Killer for all she knew.

The place this person was at was none other than the park she had met up with Applejack, whether this was intended or coincidence, she was still suspicious. She sat in the same spot she had shoved AJ against the tree, had this person been watching her then? If so, how did she not notice them? Whoever they were, she could feel them watching her, but their heartbeat was still the same calm as before.

“Come on and show yourself already, I know you’re there and that you’re watching me. Why don’t we have a little talk? I’m sure you wouldn’t want me to make you come out.”

There was the sound of rustling in the trees around her, but the heartbeat didn’t move. It stayed still in a tree to her far left, remaining completely still. But then, there was another heartbeat, then another, then two or three more, all in the trees around her! Dozens of heartbeats began to beat in the trees around her, each one with a different pulse. Had these been animals hiding in the trees? But then why would she only just now hear them? Her eyes began moving between the trees, trying to find the original she came here for. As she looked around frantically, the trees began rustling one at a time, as if something was jumping between them. She tried her hardest to discern the original, one that was calm or didn’t go as fast as the others. As she heard the dozens of heartbeats around her, the rustling in the trees got more frequent, and closer to her. She noticed none of the heartbeats were changing, they seemed to stay the same, not getting faster or slower at all! Almost mechanical, except for one that had jumped, one that was

“Behind you.”

A voice whispered behind her, not sure how or when they got there without her noticing. She then felt the person behind her grab her by the shoulder with one hand and began to pull her back, while the other hand was coming into her eyesight towards her neck, she could see the sunlight reflecting off the knife. She reacted almost immediately, she pushed herself backward with her feet towards them, but they were ready.

They let go of her and jumped away, letting her see this person as they came into her sight. They were slightly taller than her, but they had a slightly smaller bulk, though it was hard to tell with what they were wearing. They wore black clothing that resembles the color and texture of kevlar, but somehow seemed more comfortable and flexible, as the person wearing it didn’t seem to have any problems moving around quickly, almost as fast as her. There were red marks on the kevlar, almost the color of blood. They were in sets of five, four straight vertical lines with a fifth horizontal one going through it, there were several of these on them. Were they a kill count? She didn’t know, nor did she care.

They had a black face mask on that covered almost their entire face, except for their eyes, those were covered by dark sunglasses. The only thing she could tell for sure of this person was their short hair, which was brown and scraggly. They also wore black shoes, she couldn’t tell what kind they were, but they seemed like they were comfortable and easy to move around in.

Pinkamena caught herself, stopping herself from falling. But her assaulter was faster than she expected, and smarter. Instead of lunging towards her like she expected them to do, they threw the knife at her with extreme accuracy. The knife was aimed directly at her, she was barely able to react in time. Her hands wouldn’t have gotten to her face fast enough, she did have to catch it in her mouth, her new faster reflexes helped. But immediately grimaced in disgust, they had to have put something on it, because it tasted disgusting, like rotten meat and relish! She spit it out on the ground, spitting a few more times as she tried to get the taste out of her mouth.

“That’s...impressive, that should have been tasteless. I don’t understand how you were able to taste it, Chimeras really are amazing.”

Pinkamena, for a split second, forgot they were there. But when she heard the muffled voice, she reacted immediately. Without thinking, she jumped toward them, her feet briefly leaving the ground. In seconds, she was in front of them, and they seemed genuinely surprised, like they hadn’t been expecting her to move that fast. They looked at her face as they tried to jump back, her eyes having a tint of red to them, she wasn’t letting them get away. While they were still in her range, she grabbed them by the neck with her left hand. She quickly kicked them in the back of their knee causing them to lose their balance, she tightened her grip on their neck as she slammed them into the ground, hard.

She saw them reach for a knife in their shoe, but she slammed her foot on their hand, but not hard enough to break anything, probably. She held her arm out as small lines of steam came from her fingers, as her fingernails extended into claws. Fangs could be seen as a sadistic smile on her face appeared, her eyes now completely crimson. She pulled them towards her as her claws came down.

“Wait! The Syndicate sent me!”

They outstretched both of their arms above them, as if to surrender, not seeming to be affected by the pain in their hands that they must be feeling. Their voice was hard to make out since it was muffled from the face mask, and strained since her hand was around their throat, but she could still hear it. Disappointedly, she dropped them to the ground, she had really wanted to kill them. She stood up straight as she looked down at them, lifting her foot off their hand, her eyes slowly turning back to blue and her claws retracting and turning back to nails.

“So, The Syndicate’s trying to kill me now?”

She asked skeptically, something was telling her to just kill them, and she wasn’t sure it was The Whispers. they got up slowly, using one of their hands to lower the face mask, while the other was used to take off their glasses. This person was a guy, their sharp jaw and brown trimmed beard were revealed to be under the face mask, paired with brown eyes and cocky smile Pinkamena really wasn’t liking. His eyes were sunken and had dark bags under them, showing he had spent the majority of the time without sleep. He was also extremely pale, this guy was either really dedicated to following and killing people, or had some serious problems. But who was she to judge? He walked over to the knife she had spit out, he slowly put it in a hidden pocket as she watched him like a hawk.

“They didn’t send me to kill you, they sent me to watch over you. You kind of made a pretty unnerving first impression when you woke up, made some people want to take precautions. Many of the people in high power agreed on having you watched, Discord approved it.”

He walked towards her holding out his hand, she didn’t even acknowledge it, she just kept staring at him with an annoyed look on her face, this guy was too eccentric for her liking. When she didn’t shake his hand, he laughed awkwardly and lowered his hand.

“My names Juno! And despite first impressions, I’m actually quite a nice guy!”

Pinkamena looked at his clothing again, the red marks on his clothes, the way he hid his knives and the rest of his body, she didn’t need The Whispers to tell her what he was.

“Those red marks on your clothes, those are your kill count, right?”

He flinched at that, his smile faltering as he smiled awkwardly again.

“Heh, smart as they said you’d be too.”

Pinkamena sighed impatiently as she closed her eyes, she had enough to deal with without The Syndicate working behind her back because of their paranoia.

“They sent an assassin, who just tried to kill me, to spy on me? I suggest you begin explaining, before I just kill you and ask them myself to be safe.”

Pinkamena said it threateningly as she opened her eyes, but he didn’t get scared, just nervous. She was listening closely to his heartbeat, and while it was faster than before, it was still calm.

“I told you I wasn’t trying to kill you! Alright, so I was sent to watch over you, right? Make sure you don’t do anything stupid, because having those memories inserted into you has had a history with messing with someone’s mind. And while they were briefing me about you, I couldn’t help but be curious! They told me you passed the test with flying colors and killed Igneous, I couldn’t even scratch that guy, and I’ve tried! When I first saw you shove Applejack against that tree, I could barely contain my excitement! So, I put myself in range of your incredible hearing, and knowing you’d be intrigued by someone following you who could control their heartbeat as well as I can, you’d come to check it out!

So I placed some recordings of some heartbeats in the trees and began to play them whenever you showed up, to see if you could tell the difference. Which you didn’t, at least not in time, and that kind of disappointed me! And you know the rest! I won’t lie, I’m impressed! The poison I put on that knife is tasteless and fast acting, able to kill a full grown man in minutes if it gets into their bloodstream. But you were actually able to taste it! You were also able to hear me talking to myself in the facemask when I’m usually very quiet, and you were super fast too! And those were really cool!”

He suddenly jumped forward and grabbed her hand and stared at it for a few seconds, as if expecting the claws just to pop out. But she quickly pulled her hand back, disappointment was evident on his face, but it was replaced by that same bubbly attitude in seconds, an attitude she was too familiar with. Whoever decided to assign this guy to watch over her clearly had a sense of humor.

“Anyway, the reason they chose me is because they told me you have a habit of getting into trouble. So if you get into a fight that you can’t handle for whatever reason, then I will come in to save the day!”

“Or if I do something they don’t approve of, you can stop me. Or kill me and blame it on someone or something else.”

Silence filled the forest once again, neither spoke for what felt like hours.

“Yes, I suppose that is true. But, it’s my job, I enjoy it, and I get paid very well to do it. Enough to where I don’t need to kill you for your bounty, I already make enough. I’m really hoping we can become friends, and when I don’t have to spy on you anymore, we can look back on this and laugh!”

Pinkamena scoffed, she almost regretted not killing him.

“I would say that as the leader of The Syndicate, I override your orders and command you to fuck off. But, I haven’t been the leader long enough for them to trust me, and I’m not a dictator, I’m not going to abuse my power like that, not unless I absolutely have to. Besides, I kicked your ass two minutes ago, so you’re obviously not a threat.”

He tilted his head as if confused what she was talking about, then his eyes widened slightly as he clapped his hands in realization.

“Oh! No, you misunderstand! I really was just testing you! If I wanted you dead…”

In seconds, he pulled the knife from his shoe and jumped forward, faster than he was before. Pinkamena almost couldn’t react, the knife was pressed against her throat, ready to cut into flesh. But Pinkamena quickly extended her claws and wrapped her hand around his throat again, her eyes turning crimson once again. But this time, he was the one with a smile on his face.

“You’d just be another corpse.”

That bubbly attitude of his was gone, replaced by something else. That smile on his face was not a sadistic one, but one meant to taunt. His eyes seemed to have lost their light, nothing in them now but cold emptiness. His entire body was relaxed, she could almost not hear his heartbeat, there was no fear or hesitation, this was an assassin. She now knew why they chose him, not only could he be a joyful person like she used to be, but he could also be a cold-blooded killer when needed, she might actually like this guy.

As much as she would have enjoyed to see if this guy was all talk, there was something else, a third heartbeat. This wasn’t like the recordings, this was real, she could practically smell the fear.

“We have a visitor.”

He said almost casually, but neither moved.

“I know, truce?”

He hesitated, but moved away when she let go of his throat, feeling her claws retract and seeing her eyes slowly change back to blue. He hopped away from her, quickly putting the knife back in his shoe, she watched him intently.

“Are you going to handle this guest? Or should I?”

He seemed to say eagerly, as if he wanted to show her just how good he was. But if this was who she thought it was, that was cause more problems than it would solve.

“No, I have this. Leave, I know you’ll be watching, but that doesn’t mean I want to see you.”

She was more aggressive than she needed to be, but this day was proving to be arguably the most annoying and frustrating out of a lot she’s had.

“Alright, alright! You don’t have to be so rude!”

And with that he was gone, he jumped back into the trees to watch her, she was going to have to work on finding a way to lose him, or he was going to be a huge pain.

“Come on out and we can talk, Sunset.”

It took a few seconds, but Sunset walked into the field, her hiding spot being behind one of the many trees. She stood beside the tree and stayed there, as if afraid of getting closer. Her heart was beating fast from fear and nervousness, but she could also feel she wasn’t going to run. Despite her emotions, her face was neutral and composed, Pinkamena was almost impressed.

“Interesting friend you have, do they all try to kill you?”

Pinkamena smirked at that, she found the accuracy of that question funny.

“Only the ones that I piss off. Why are you following me? I thought we established no contact between us, or do I need to show you how serious I am?”

Pinkamena had intended for that so scare her and make her lose her composure, glaring at her as she made her threat. But Sunset didn’t even flinch, she kept staring into her eyes, as if looking for something.

“You won’t hurt me or the rest of us, I don’t believe it. I don’t care what happened to you, you’re Pinkie Pie, our Pinkie Pie! I will do anything I can to save you, I refuse to lose another friend. So I will-”

Before Sunset could finish, Pinkamena had appeared in front of her, her hand wrapped around her throat. She began picking her up by her throat, tight enough to where she wouldn’t drop her, but not to where she couldn’t breathe. Sunset’s hands wrapped around Pinkamena’s arm, trying desperately to get free. But she didn’t kick her, didn’t try to hurt her in any way. She wasn’t even afraid, she looked down at Pinkamena, she might have looked like she was struggling to breathe, but she didn’t show any fear. Pinkamena, on the other hand, showed just how angry she was.

“What could you possibly understand!? You don’t know anything about what I went through! You’re just some spoiled little pony princess from another world, who left because nobody paid attention to you! You gained all the power you could in the hopes somebody would love you, and then you cried like a little bitch when it didn’t work!”

Pinkamena felt the anger within her rise, this wasn’t something that came with her when she changed, this anger had been there. She didn’t realize how angry she had been at her, maybe she didn’t want to. But The Whispers weren’t suppressing it, maybe they were just curious what would happen? But Sunset didn’t respond to this, she didn’t get angry or sad, like she had expected that.

“I know you’re alone. I know you want someone to help you, but you’re afraid. You are so afraid of what might happen that you let that fear control you, you let it convince you that it’s better this way! But it’s not! We’re here for you, I’m here for you! And no matter what happens, I will be here! I fell to darkness, so did Twilight. I don’t know if what happened to you has anything to do with magic or Equestria, but I’ll be damned before I let another friend be corrupted by their own pain!”

Pinkamena’s grip loosened, but she didn’t let go of her. She lowered her head, she couldn’t look into her eyes.

“I am not the one you should be worried about! Don’t you get it? I’m not afraid for myself, I’m afraid for you, all of you! We are being watched, right now! If they even think I told you guys anything, they will kill you! I have to avoid you, If I don’t, it’ll be like you never existed! They will wipe you off history, and I’ll be stuck with nothing but the memory of you guys and the guilt!”

Something slid down the side of her face, something warm and wet, it was a tear. Pinkamena dropped her, she fell on her feet surprised and concerned. Pinkamena quickly turned around and wiped the tear off her face, breathing erratically as she held her chest, her heart beating fast, and it hurt. Sunset was looking at her worriedly, one hand was rubbing the large hand-shaped red mark on her neck, the other was reaching to Pinkamena.

The Whispers were watching this entire time, and it seemed they were willing to give a little mercy. Before Pinkamena’s emotions made her do something stupid, that same coldness came washing over her. Her heart stopped hurting and was now returning to a normal beat, she was no longer breathing erratically and her body was no longer shaking, it was like they weren’t even there to begin with. Sunset’s hand rested on top of Pinkamena’s shoulders, she quickly turned around, shaking it off. She looked back at Sunset, that same cold straight face was there, no emotions to be seen.

“What happened to Rainbow Dash?”

Sunset flinched, her face changing to that of confusion, she wasn’t expecting a change in subject so quickly and easily after that.

“What?”

“When I came back, everyone was there. Except for two people, Twilight, who probably isolated herself so she didn’t even know I was back, and Rainbow Dash. I thought that was strange, I figured she’d be the first to confront me. But when she didn’t, I asked around, it was unusual for even her not to show up on the first day. As it turns out, like and soon after me, she disappeared. She stopped showing up at school, she was almost never seen outside of school, she didn’t respond to text or anything! I’m tempted to go to where she lives just to see how long it’s been since someone’s been there! What happened!?”

She hadn’t intended to be that aggressive, but Sunset had been annoyingly stubborn, and that stacked atop an already annoying day made Pinkamena tense, more so than usual. And if she wasn’t assertive, Juno might get the impression that she was important to her, and while they more than likely do already, she was still going to take precautions.

Sunset hesitated in answering, she seemed to hide behind her hair in shame.

“I...don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

Pinkamena moved closer to her, Sunset didn’t seem to notice.

“One of your friends goes missing, she could be fucking dead, and you don’t bother to investigate!? This was right after one of your other friends disappeared too! So what, too busy looking for one who’s been gone longer to bother with the other one? Or maybe you neglected her? What if the potential loss of one of her best friends was destroying her? What if she was worried sick? Did you ever ask her if she was okay, or were you too focused on trying to find me that you didn’t pay attention to your friends that were still there? Maybe she was so sick at the lack of results, that she decided to go off and search herself! Did you even care about her? Me? Any of us? Or is this just some plot to get the elements and turn back into a dem-”

There was a loud smacking sound, Pinkamena was knocked back, touching her face where a hand-shaped red mark was forming, a genuinely shocked expression on her face.

“You...you were gone for three months, you missed a lot, you don’t know what’s happened while you were gone, and there is a nearly countless list of things that could’ve happened to you. So, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. But, YOU DO NOT GET TO TELL ME WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE!”

Tears were streaming down Sunset’s angry face, her hand stretched out in front of her. She stood straight and focused her angry stare on her, the tears still dripping down her face.

“I’ve dealt with a lot of things, but I’ve never had to deal the loss of a friend, especially not like that! After we discovered you were missing, we did everything we could, and I mean everything! The police, your family, everyone! We even got into contact with Equestrian Twilight, but there almost nothing she could do. For weeks, we did everything you would think of, and got nothing! And that’s when things went bad, it was hard to keep up hope at that point. Fluttershy cried to the point of being so sick she couldn’t get out of bed, and any minute she was out of it, she was getting the help of as many animals as she could. Rarity used every connection she had from the dresses she sold to get all the help she could, and I don’t even want to imagine what price she had to pay for that. I and this Twilight spent countless sleepless nights making every theory thinkable with what we had to go on, which was practically nothing! Applejack seemed like she knew something, but she was as stubborn as a rock and refused to say anything, ironic since she’s honesty. And Rainbow Dash…”

Sunset’s anger faded away, the tears no longer flowing. It was changed to a sadder one, one Pinkamena recognized, regret.

“For a while, she was what kept our hopes up, what kept us happy! But after a while, she became distant. She talked less, her usual confident attitude began to fade, she was missing sports and classes, eventually, she just stopped coming to school at all. We saw her occasionally outside of school, until we didn’t. We tried to get her to tell us what was wrong, we tried to help! I tried to help! But she just refused to say anything, not even Fluttershy could get her to talk! Eventually, it became impossible to juggle school, searching for Pinkie on our own after everyone else has given up, and trying to help Rainbow Dash. When we stopped seeing her, most just assumed she had left somewhere and she’d eventually come back, they gave up. But I didn’t.

I went to her apartment, since she lived by herself, I figured I could find something. But, the landlord wouldn’t let me in. So, I settled on asking him questions about her recent behavior, her relationship with her family, stuff like that. And I learned some...unsettling and terrible things. We don’t ask each other about our home lives, that’s something that we don’t talk about unless we want to. We’ve met your family, and I don’t have one, the others aren’t something we have any right to ask about. But I learned Rainbow Dash had a really good reason for not talking about hers. Her mother is dead, she was killed in an alleyway by a random mugger while she was pregnant, her father was there with her. Her mother was pregnant with Rainbow Dash, and her dad did a great job of raising her. But, everyone cracks under pressure given enough time.

When she was fourteen, her dad went missing. It’s presumed he killed himself, but a body was never found. He left behind a lot of money of for his daughter, plus he was a veteran, so she had no problem living on her own. After learning this, I decided to stop looking, she’d come to us when she wanted to talk. I wan-”

“YOU ABANDONED HER!?”

Pinkamena grabbed her by the shoulders violently, anger and disbelief evident on her face as she looked into Sunsets.

“What? No! I didn’t-

“You did! I can see it in your eyes, you barely even looked for her!”

Pinkamena threw Sunset forward, causing Sunset’s back to slam into a back. She screamed loudly as pain shot through her back, which was silenced when she fell forward and slammed into the ground. She slowly raised her head to look at Pinkamena, the pain in her back made it hard to move. But as soon as she had, fear-induced adrenaline began pumping through her body, and the pain didn’t seem that bad. Pinkamena was slowly walking towards her, her fist clenched so tight blood was dripping down her hands. Her teeth were clenched as looked down in disgust and rage at her, and Sunset was positive her eyes were now a dark shade of red.

“You just stopped looking for her!? You thought that she had just left and that she’d be back, that nothing terrible could’ve happened to her? What if that’s what had happened to me?”

Pinkamena could feel rage boiling inside her, and once again, The Whispers weren’t even trying to suppress it. But something about this rage felt different, it didn’t feel like it was hers. It felt like it belonged to someone else, almost like the memory of it, and it was coursing through her veins. She could feel her claws cutting into the skin of her clenched fist, she was trying her hardest to stop herself, but this rage, hers or not, was comparable to the rage she felt for Igneous.

“NO! It wasn’t like that, please! She was different, it made sense for her, she had a good reason! You were different, you just disappeared! No warning, no reason, nothing! You were perfectly normal before you left! Please, you have to understand! Everyone was drifting apart, when we came together to confront you today in the courtyard, that was the first time we’ve been together in weeks! If another of us was gone like you, I don’t know what would have happened.”

Sunset tried to get up, but the pain in her back got worse anytime she tried.

“Oh, I understand.”

Pinkamena was now standing in front of Sunset, looking down at her. Her fists were no longer clenched, they lay at her sides, her nails were now claws tainted in her blood. She wasn’t smiling at her, her face was that of pure anger, her teeth looked more like that of a lion’s than humans, and her eyes were a dark crimson.

“You’re a dirty, treacherous, megalomaniac who cares about no one but herself! You don’t care about me or Rainbow Dash, you don’t care about any of us! You left me to suffer! You left Rainbow Dash alone! You hypnotized the entire school with the power you stole! You’re just as bad as the guys who took me. And like them,”

Pinkamena raised her left claw above her head, like a predator about to strike their prey.

“You’re going to end up dead by my hands.”

Pinkamena’s hand came down, Sunset closed her eyes, she could hear her heart beating in her chest frantically out of fear. Before Pinkamena’s claws came down upon Sunset, a knife suddenly came out of the woods, and hit the palm of her hand. The knife was sharp enough to cut straight through her hand, leaving a slit that cut across her palm. The knife hit a tree behind her, planting itself firmly in the tree. Pinkamena flinched as she jumped back, looking at her hand in shock, but quickly regained her composure when she looked at the knife.

“Juno...thanks, I would’ve killed her.”

She mumbled thankfully, even though she knew he couldn’t hear her. She looked down at Sunset, who still had her eyes closed and was shaking in fear.

“Get up and leave, before I change my mind.”

Sunset slowly opened her eyes, barely understanding what she heard. A few more seconds passed, and neither moved.

“NOW!”

Pinkamena shouted, loud and sudden enough to startle nearby birds. Sunset slowly pushed herself up, the pain in her back was slowly fading, but she knew she’d be sore tomorrow. As she stood up, she looked at Pinkamena, both out of fear and curiosity. She once again had her back turned, but didn’t seem to be shaking this time. She was looking down at the slit in her left hand, steam was coming off of it as it slowly healed, her claws had turned back to nails. She didn’t even seem to be paying attention to Sunset, her cold blue eyes looking at her hand as if she was lost in thought.

“What...are you?”

Sunset asked hesitantly, knowing she was pushing her luck, but she was going to do everything in her power to help her friend, even if it means risking her life. The slit in Pinkamena’s hand was now gone, now only blood remained. Pinkamena smiled almost sardonically as she looked at Sunset.

“Honestly? Who knows?”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“So, I take it you have some questions?”

Pinkamena was sitting on the edge of a rooftop, her legs dangling off the sides as she looked down at the city below her. It seemed she had lost track of time, as it was now almost dark, and the city was coming alive. About thirty minutes from now, she’d be meeting with Applejack. And, considering recent events, she figured she should take a break and relax until it was time. She had intended to check Rainbow Dash’s apartment and investigate, break and enter if she had to. But there wasn’t enough time. Besides, she could do it later, it’s not going anywhere.

“A couple, will you indulge me?”

She was going to take this opportunity to talk to The Whispers, she did have a few questions, and she really had nothing better to do while she waited. The Whispers, still taking the form of her dead father, stood behind her, his hands in his pockets as he looked down at her.

“Yeah, might as well.”

He sat beside her, put his legs over the edge like hers. For a few moments, there was just silence as they sat beside each other.

“I wonder what Juno will think if he sees you talking to me like this.”

“What happened back there?”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific.”

He smiled smugly as he said that, and, even though she wasn’t looking at him, a look of annoyance came onto hers.

“The first time it happened, when the emotions became stronger than you’d usually let, I’m assuming you did that on purpose to see how I’d handle it. But the second time, it was different. I could feel it, but it didn’t feel like it was mine, like it belonged to someone else. Not just that, but I was about to kill Sunset, and I didn’t feel you even try to stop me, and I know you could have. If it wasn’t for Juno, she would be dead. So, I want to know what happened.”

Silence returned once again between the two, Pinkamena wanted to be more aggressive, but she didn’t want to piss him off, not yet.

“I suggest you change your tone, I’m not inclined to answer any of your questions. But, I’ll let it go this time. Anyway, you are actually quite a common case, when it comes to how you became the leader, minus killing the previous one yourself. Most are apart of the family of the current leader, when they come of age, they’re put through the test. If they pass, they are taught and trained to be the next leader. If they fail and the current leader doesn’t have any other offspring or can’t produce anymore, then another one is selected from a list of candidates. So wh-”

“Wait! When Maud passed the test, she was-”

He snapped his fingers, Pinkamena then began to clutch her head tightly, almost whimpering in pain. He looked at her with annoyance, snapping his fingers again, causing the pain to stop.

“Don’t interrupt me, ever. If the leader has multiple offspring who have passed the test, or yet to. He has the option of choosing which one, the others will help in other ways. Now, let me continue. Most of the leaders who were in your situation, after passing the test, had trust issues. When their friends didn’t help them, they couldn’t help but think their friends had abandoned them, making it hard for them to gain new friends, and to strongly dislike their old friends. So, when you talked to Sunshit Shimmer, and she revealed what happened, it triggered the memories of a lot of leaders who felt their old friends had abandoned them. That anger you felt? You’re right, it wasn’t yours. Not just yours, anyway. It was the combined anger of all the leaders who had felt betrayed, and they pushed it onto you. So, when it’s a mass of emotions that strong coming from us, it becomes kind of difficult to suppress it, even for me. Don’t worry though, unless you get into situations that would trigger dozens of different leaders from the past with vastly different personalities, it shouldn’t happen again. Easy, right?”

He looked at her with a sarcastic grin, but she wasn’t even looking at him. She seemed to be thinking about something, shame they couldn’t read her mind. Then again, that spoil all the fun.

“So, why don’t you just give me the memories? It would be easier to avoid those situations if I did. I don’t under-”

“You will get the memories when we deem you ready. If you pester us about it, you won’t like what happens. Any more questions? Because I’m getting really tired of your arrogance.”

Pinkamena hesitated, she had one more question, but she wasn’t sure she was going to like the answer.

“Did...The Syndicate have anything to do with Rainbow Dash or her parents?”

He visibly tensed up at that, closing his eyes like he didn’t want to see the world anymore.

“I’m...not going to answer that one.”

Pinkamena suddenly stood up, turning towards him swiftly.

“What do you mean? Why won’t you answer? I deserve to know! I need to know If The Syndicate kill-

“I’m. Not. Answering.”

He said firmly, almost threatening her if she continued. He didn’t open his eyes or stand up, He simply sat at the edge of the roof, almost like he was waiting for something. Pinkamena was about to demand answers, when she heard something, a heartbeat. It was faint, which is why she didn’t notice it before. It was someone on another rooftop a couple miles away, and from the way it jumped when she turned towards it, it could see her.

“What is it, girl? Johnny fell down a well?”

He said jokingly, she almost ignored him.

“We’re-I’m being watched, someone’s watching us from a rooftop a couple miles away.”

He didn’t move from his spot, he didn’t even look at her, his only response was a snicker.

“Probably just Juno wondering why you’re sitting on the edge of a roof talking to yourself.”

Pinkamena didn’t turn away, she continued to peer in the darkness towards the heartbeat, as if it would jump out any minute despite it being miles away.

“No, every heartbeat sounds a little different, this isn’t Juno’s. Besides, Juno knows the range of my hearing, he would stay right outside of it. Something about this heartbeat feels familiar though, I know I’ve heard it before, but I can’t remember who! It’s almost like-”

Pinkamena suddenly jumped, a ringing sound coming from directly behind her. Igneous was looking down at a watch that was flashing nine forty in red letters, he smirked to himself as he turned it off.

“Well, as amusing as this is to listen to you, detective. You’ve got a meeting to get to, it will take about twenty minutes to get from here to the harbor, not counting traffic. So, I would suggest leaving now.”

“But I-”

Pinkamena turned around to face him, but he wasn’t there. She turned back around towards the heartbeat, and he was standing right in front her. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around, beginning to push her to the ledge.

“Don’t worry about the big bad monster in the dark! It’s probably just some mom who came up to dry her clothes or something. You’ve got a meeting to go to, and Applejack does not like people being late, so go! Or I will make you!”

Igneous had somehow pushed her back the edge of the rooftop, she tried looking past him towards the heartbeat, but he wouldn’t let her. She sighed as she looked down into the alleyway, realizing as much as she hated it, he was right.

“Fine, but we are not done!”

Pinkamena begrudgingly jumped off the roof into the next, beginning her trip to the warehouse, already in a bad mood. Igneous watched her with a smile as he began to fade away. But as he slowly did, his smile turned into a frown as he angrily glared at Pinkamena’s back.

“Out of everyone who could have been The Silent Killer, why did it have to be you!?”